I have been asked by Lynn Ewing, President of SFAC, to share my special story. The San Francisco Accordion Club, and Paul Cain in particular, were “instrumental” in bringing a nearly five decade pursuit of mine to a beautiful conclusion.
I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and studied accordion from Joan Cochran Sommers from age six through eighteen. During that time I was concert mistress for the UMKC Accordion Orchestra and won first place in the AAA Virtuoso division at age seventeen. My intent was to attend college at the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music concentrating in Accordion. Instead, upon high school graduation, I went on tour with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians playing Cordovox in the orchestra, and eventually married Dennis Ray, a singer with the group.
At age twelve, my father bought me a special accordion from Cecil and Joan Cochran, the future Joan Sommers. I did not know that it was one of a kind but I loved it as did all of my friends. It was a Giulietti accordion with lights corresponding to notes being played. A year before my wedding, money was short and I sold that accordion to pay for my wedding dress. My immature thinking was that I would be playing Cordovox for the rest of my days and would not need this accordion.
For years I regretted letting that accordion go and searched decades for it. My husband heard about my “Light- Up Accordion” all those years but he had never seen it. I always wished that my children and grandchildren could have enjoyed seeing it played. My search for that accordion ended last year when I learned that it belonged to a collector of accordions. Joan Sommers sent me an email attachment of a San Francisco Accordion Club newsletter with a picture of Paul Cain holding that treasured accordion.
I contacted Paul by email once to let him know that I was the original owner. I simply said that if he ever decided to sell it to please let me know. I am a board member for the Accordionists and Teachers Guild and knew seeing the accordion at the 2014 ATG festival was going to be bittersweet. It had been 47 years since it was in my possession. Somehow over the years, it made its way to San Francisco and was in the estate of John Molinari, a prominent virtuoso accordionist, teacher, and a Giulietti-sponsored artist and dealer.
Two years ago, Paul Cain purchased a half-dozen accordions from the granddaughter of John Molinari. This unique light-up accordion was among the accordions that had been stored for years in a basement garage. The granddaughter did not know where it came from, but said that it had been in the family for years. Paul restored these accordions and added them to his large collection of sixty accordions. For this accordion, he converted the system from AC powered to a battery pack system and replaced incandescent flash light bulbs with LED lights.
I know that this prototype one-of-a-kind accordion must have been Paul Cain’s most prized accordion in his collection. During the week of the ATG festival, I again said a few times, “If you ever decide to sell it, please let me know.” I did not really believe he would ever be interested in parting with it.
Well, the night before the last day of the festival, Paul sat down beside me and said, “You have an accordion that I would like to have.” I had forgotten mentioning that I had a fabulous new acoustic/digital accordion that I was going to have to sell because it was too heavy for me to manage. I cautiously said, “Do you mean you would trade the lighted Giulietti?” I would have mortgaged my house to get this treasured accordion back in my possession. A trade was perfect! You cannot put a price on something that is priceless.
Paul is very happy and I am overjoyed! “I left my heart in San Francisco” when I brought my Light-Up Giulietti Accordion home after a 47-year absence.
Information about Donna:
Donna Dee (Anderson) Ray began taking accordion lessons at age six from Joan Cochran Sommers. At age fifteen she became concert mistress of the fifty-member Accordion Orchestra at the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She won the American Accordionists Association Virtuoso Championship at age seventeen.
The following year, upon high school graduation, Donna Dee began touring with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians playing Cordovox as an orchestra member and featured soloist. During her five-year stint, she met her husband, Dennis Ray, who was a singer with the group. They discontinued touring to start their family. Later, Donna Dee and Dennis formed a musical duo. They also performed many years with their three children.
When The Ray Family children grew up, Donna Dee transitioned into becoming an elementary school music teacher continuing her joy of teaching music to children. Mrs. Ray recently retired from a twenty-eight year teaching career. In addition to music classroom teaching, she directed outstanding extra-curricular performance groups at her school to include Chorus, Chime Choir and Orff ensembles. She has often been a guest clinician/director for All-County groups in her county and other counties around the state of Florida.
Donna Dee earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida. In 2002, she earned National Board Certification, the first year it opened to music teachers. She has earned Levels I, II, and III certifications in Orff pedagogy which is an approach that uses “process-teaching”, incremental steps, to achieve successful performance outcomes for young music students.
